With the publication of True the Vote’s Virginia poll watcher guide, another group seems to have been targeted: trans citizens.

“It is disgraceful that True the Vote would try to thug anyone into not voting. True the Vote’s true agenda is a shameful attempt to scare trans people away from participating in our democracy,” said Mara Keisling, head of the National Center for Transgender Equality, in a release.

True the Vote, an off-shoot of the King Street Patriots, has billed itself as a non-partisan, somewhat reformist group who, trading on nations of widespread voter fraud, wants to train the public to take up positions in states that allow poll watchers. They have faced widespread accusations of in fact being a shill to the anti-immigrant forces currently infesting the Republican Party.

The Virginia guide itself does not explicitly mention trans people, but the above element of its cover image does all the talking that is necessary when it comes to how they perceive gender variant and trans people.

True the Vote has always insisted it is non-partisan, and indeed the guide itself also stresses the importance of a non-partisan approach to poll watching, but the overtly hostile way in which the group has pursued, and indeed propagated, unsubstantiated notions of (nearly always liberal) mass voter fraud, and its established history of labeling African Americans as possible fraudsters, suggests otherwise.

Will this potential attack on trans people put the community off from voting? No, says Keisling.

“Trans people are resilient. For trans people, voting is not just a right and a responsibility, for us it is also an important part of how we are winning our equality. Scare tactics like this won’t keep us from that.”

There have, of course, been wider concerns floated about the True the Vote campaign, and there have been several complaints made by voter rights groups who charge that the Virginia-specific training guide seems to mislead on vital details.

One they pinpoint is a section on when polls close – they’re open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day – advising that people who vote after polls close should cast a provisional ballot that’s kept separate from other votes. The manual also notes that Virginia law allows anyone in line by the time polls close to vote.

That’s a conflicting message that could cause problems at the polls, according to some who signed the letter.

[...]

Another complaint is that the wording in the manual on voter identification laws is imprecise, given changes Virginia made to its law this year.

“Our concern with the guide is if it’s not made explicitly clear what the law is in Virginia, it could hold up lines on Election Day and lead to voter confusion” and disruption, said Courtney Mills, a staff attorney with the Fair Elections Legal Network.

True the Vote is also currently the subject of an ethics complaint filed by Texans for Public Justice who assert that True the Vote has made unlawful donations to Republican candidates and the Party’s causes.

The NCTE has issued a message urging all transgender and gender non-conforming Americans to ignore True the Vote’s “shameful and unamerican attacks,” and vote this Election Day.

The NCTE has prepared a handy one-page checklist for trans people who are concerned about their voting rights that is designed to make sure you are prepared come voting day. Click here for that and other resources.

The practice of racism, sexism or any type of discrimination should be outlawed and punished severely ..These people are mentally ill and if they do not agree to seek mental help for their hatred and fear then they should be simply locked up in prison for a few years

Well then, it seems we have some celebrating to engage in this evening. Looks like the citizens of the US are in agreement with the citizens of the world in reelecting President Obama for another term. We don't even have the remainder of the western states results in and the President has already attained 270 electoral votes. Looks like Nate Silver was the man to follow in predicting this.

For what it's worth, I just completed serving today as a poll judge in precinct in Montgomery County, just north of Houston. During the course of the day, we had 4 poll watchers. ALL were from the Democratic party, although we were expecting to see people from True the Vote. We'd also been told the UN might send poll watchers. None showed. I'd received several emails from the Democratic party during the preceeding week or so regarding the need for poll watchers; evidently the word got out.

We had no problems other than about 10 voters who came to our precinct thinking they had registered because they checked the box to do so while filing a change of address at the Department of Motor Vehicles when they moved to our county. We don't know where the problem is, or whether it is statewide or just in our county, but both precinct judges (one from each party) will be filing a complaint. Two of the people had just moved here after completing military service, and we were upset that all we could offer was a provisional ballot.

Incidently, the other judge had a daughter working in another precinct (same county), and she also reported this problem.